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I'm from the Chicago area, albeit a suburb very far from Downtown. It would probably be considered a "middle ring suburb." Even though you're not far from the city limits, you're fairly far removed from the "action." Some other cities aren't nearly as big as Chicago, but still have several hundred thousand people, a major urban center, and a number of suburbs. The main difference seems to be the scope of the development. Cities like Indianapolis or Cincinnati are still very large and offer a lot, and I don't think someone from Chicago's suburbs would see a huge difference living near one of those cities in terms of amenities and everyday life (save for Lake Michigan). Even Arkansas shares a border with Memphis. What states just really don't offer access to a major urban/suburban area? Assuming you're from the suburbs in the first place, would smaller cities like Des Moines, Iowa or Portland, Maine cut it?
I consider a place that gets to 1 million people (by any measure, be it MSA, CSA, Demographia's Urban Area, Urban Agglomeration, so on and so forth) to be "major". A population in the 7 figures of population is pretty major compared to a population in the 6 figures of population and it was just half-a-century to three-quarters of a century ago in America where having 1 million people in the metropolitan area would make a place "major" and one of the largest metropolises in all of America.
So while times have changed and places continue to grow and the roster of cities continues to both expand and crowd, 1 million still remains my threshold.
With that said, to me the answer to your question are Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, Maine, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware, Kansas, and Mississippi. Idaho and Iowa, for the time being, as well.
Hawaii is exempt at this point, with 992,000 people Honolulu is practically knocking on the door to it. As are Arkansas and Nebraska, with Little Rock being 920,000 people or so by CSA and Omaha being 980,000 people by CSA; both are knocking on the door of 1 million and should get there sooner rather than later. Idaho's focal metropolis, Boise, should grow into that size before long so in due time it would be exempt as well. Delaware is tough to rank, it doesn't have a major metropolitan area over 1 million people on its very own but its urban centers are apart of another states' major metropolis that has over 7 million people. This is different than Rhode Island, which has Providence which has its own MSA of 1.6 million and then is absorbed into the much larger Greater Boston with nearly 8.2 million people.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 12-07-2017 at 03:50 PM..
The big city in New Mexico is Albuquerque and it seems like a lot of people dont consider it to be a "major" city but then again not too many peoople live in America's Land of Enchantment.Also,Wyoming does not have a big city i dont think.
I consider a place that gets to 1 million people (by any measure, be it MSA, CSA, Demographia's Urban Area, Urban Agglomeration, so on and so forth) to be "major". A population in the 7 figures of population is pretty major compared to a population in the 6 figures of population and it was just half-a-century to three-quarters of a century ago in America where having 1 million people in the metropolitan area would make a place "major" and one of the largest metropolises in all of America.
So while times have changed and places continue to grow and the roster of cities continues to both expand and crowd, 1 million still remains my threshold.
With that said, to me the answer to your question are Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, Maine, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware, Kansas, and Mississippi. Idaho and Iowa, for the time being, as well.
Hawaii is exempt at this point, with 992,000 people Honolulu is practically knocking on the door to it. As are Arkansas and Nebraska, with Little Rock being 920,000 people or so by CSA and Omaha being 980,000 people by CSA; both are knocking on the door of 1 million and should get there sooner rather than later. Idaho's focal metropolis, Boise, should grow into that size before long so in due time it would be exempt as well. Delaware is tough to rank, it doesn't have a major metropolitan area over 1 million people on its very own but its urban centers are apart of another states' major metropolis that has over 7 million people. This is different than Rhode Island, which has Providence which has its own MSA of 1.6 million and then is absorbed into the much larger Greater Boston with nearly 8.2 million people.
Actually, parts of New Hampshire are in the Boston metro area. So, it is similar to Delaware. Same with portions of the Eastern Panhandle of WV being in the Washington DC metro area, parts of Kansas being in the Kansas City metro, parts of Iowa being in the Omaha metro area(will be over 1 million soon enough) and parts of NW Mississippi being in the Memphis metro area.
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I think Northern Delaware is one of the most unique metros in the country. Yes, it is a key constituent of Greater Philadelphia (with Philly less than 30 miles away), but it also anchors its own metro of over 700,000 (with lots of grey overlap with Southern Chester and Delaware counties in SE Pennsylvania that could easily push it to 1 million if so counted). It also runs its own state, unlike the Philly burbs in PA and NJ. Realistically, Kent, New Castle, Cecil and Salem counties bring Northern Delaware’s “CSA” north of 900,000, with the southern portions of Delaware and especially Chester counties contributing the other 100,000.
And also unlike those New Hampshire, West Virginia, Kansas, Iowa and Mississippi examples of metro inclusion, Northern Delaware’s “CSA” (Metropolitan Division for sure) also directly borders another major metropolitan area—Baltimore. The only other “small” metro I can think of that is similar is Mercer County, New Jersey, which has Philly 30 miles to its south and NYC 70 miles to its north (and that’s unique in that it is a constituent of the metro that is geographically farther away!). All things considered (GDP, location and population), I think Northern Delaware deserves inclusion as a major metropolitan area, or one that is on “the cusp”.
Last edited by qworldorder; 12-07-2017 at 05:26 PM..
Hawaii is exempt at this point, with 992,000 people Honolulu is practically knocking on the door to it.
It also feels like a metropolitan area 3x its size imo. It's very dense, busy, and because of tourists has a lot of amenities other cities its size would not.
The big city in New Mexico is Albuquerque and it seems like a lot of people dont consider it to be a "major" city but then again not too many peoople live in America's Land of Enchantment.Also,Wyoming does not have a big city i dont think.
I think Albuquerque punches above its weight simply because it has no regional competition. Omaha is also this way but to a lesser extent.
Good point.....its hundreds of miles away from El Paso and Colorado Springs.
And by now, it is likely just over the 1 million threshold; it was just under in the last census estimate, and the south Westside and the Ladera areas are starting to bustle with home-building again, not to mention Rio Rathole and Belen, too.
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